Note: There were two separate companies named the “Rochester and Pittsburgh Railroad.” The first was incorporated in 1853 and surveyed a line from Portville to Portage, NY. That company did not build or operate any trackage. This article, and all references to the “Rochester and Pittsburgh Railroad” on this site, is about the second one that was incorporated in November 1881.
The Rochester and Pittsburgh Railroad operated between Rochester and the Pennsylvania state line south of Carrollton, NY. It eventually became part of the Buffalo, Rochester and Pittsburgh Railway.
History
The Rochester and Pittsburgh Railroad was incorporated on January 29, 1881 from the assets of the former Rochester and State Line Railroad which was chartered in 1869 and went into receivership in February 1880.
One of the early challenges of the company was to rehabilitate the lines to allow for larger and heavier trains. The 1883 annual report issued by the company noted that the company had begun operating on the Rochester and Salamanca division, 108 miles, and 16 miles of the Buffalo and Pittsburgh division from Salamanca Junction to Bradford, Pennsylvania. It also noted that the company had expended great energy (and money) rehabilitating the line between Ashford Junction and Rochester, including replacing the old iron rails with steel ones on 22 of the 82 miles between the two points. The company installed 60,000 new ties and put new gravel ballast on 21 miles of track.
The railroad inherited eleven 4-4-0 “American” type locomotives from the Rochester and State Line. The RS&L had not maintained them well and the R&P had to send the locomotives back to Brooks for rebuilding in 1881. By the end of 1881, the company had a total of sixteen locomotives, all of them Brooks 4-4-0s.
The Perry Railroad was incorporated on May 9, 1882 to build a railroad from a junction with Rochester and Pittsburgh Railroad near East Gainesville, N. Y., to a connection with the Silver Lake Railroad Company at Gainesville. Construction of the 1.03 mile line was begun in May 1882 and completed in August of the same year. When construction was completed the Perry Railroad was leased by the Rochester and Pittsburgh. In November 1883 the Rochester and Pittsburgh formally acquired the Perry Railroad.
The Rochester and Pittsburgh Railroad formed and later merged in a number of “paper railroad” that did not build any tracks or operate any trains. These included the Pittsburgh and New York Railroad and the Bradford and State Line Railroad in Pennsylvania and the Great Valley and Bradford Railroad and the Rochester and Charlotte Railroad in New York.
By 1885 the company was bankrupt and went into foreclosure. It was purchased in October 1885 and was broken into the Pittsburgh and State Line Railroad Company, which operated in Pennsylvania, and the Buffalo, Rochester and Pittsburgh Railroad which operated the New York sections. These two railroads were later recombined to form the Buffalo, Rochester and Pittsburgh Railway.
Stations
PA Line to Ashford Junction
Limestone * Carollton * Killbuck * Salamanca * East Salamanca * Great Valley * Ellicottville * Ashford
Buffalo to Ashford Junction
Buffalo* East Buffalo * Buffalo Creek * West Seneca * Windom * Orchard Park * Loveland * Jewett / Jewettville * West Falls * Colden * Glenwood * Footes * East Concord * Springville * Cascade Park * Hoyts * Riceville * West Valley *Ashford
Rochester to PA State Line
Charlotte * Rochester * Lincoln Park * Brooks Avenue * Maplewood * Brookdale * Scottsville * Garbuttsville * Wheatland * Mumford * P & L Junction * Limerock * North Street, LeRoy * LeRoy * DL&W Crossing * Pavilion Center * Pavilion * Pearl Creek * Wyoming * Saltville * Warsaw * Rock Glen * Silver Lake Junction * Gainesville * Pike * Bliss * Eagle * Freedom * Farmers Valley * Elton * Machias * Bird * Devereux * Ashford * Ellicottville * Great Valley * East Salamanca * Salamanca * Killbuck * Carollton * Limestone
Operations
The Rochester and Pittsburgh rebuilt the line from Rochester to Salamanca and built the line from Buffalo to Ashford. The Rochester to Salamanca line was built circa 1876 and the Buffalo to Ashford line was put into service in circa 1883.
An inspection of the company included in the 1884/1885 Annual Report of the Board of Railroad Commissioners of the State of New York stated that:
Between Rochester and Salamanca, a distance of 108 miles, the road has been in operation about eight years. The extension from Bradford Junction into Pennsylvania, of which about thirteen miles is in New York, about three years ; the Perry branch from Silver Lake Junction to East Gainesville about two years, and the Buffalo branch, from Ashford junction to Buffalo Creek junction at East Buffalo, forty-seven miles, about one year.
A November 1, 1883 article stated that
The Rochester and Pittsburgh road has increased its rolling stock during the past three years as follows : 10,000 coal cars, 400 boxcars, 100 flat cars, 44 locomotives, 16 cabooses, 14 passenger coaches and 7 baggage cars. This is a partial evidence of the growth and prosperity of the road.
Timetables
Digital Artifacts
Learn More
Listed below are some other good sources of information about the railroad.
- Baltimore & Ohio Railroad Historical Society.
- Pietrak, Paul. 1979. Buffalo, Rochester & Pittsburgh Railway. Boston, NY: Self Published.
- Rosenberg-Naparsteck, Ruth. 1989. Two Centuries of Industry and Trade in Rochester. Rochester History, Vol LI, No. 4.
- Rothfus, Robert R. 1971. “Coal Trains North: The Rochester and Pittsburgh Railroad Company,” The Western Pennsylvania Historical Magazine
- Warshaw Collection of Business Americana Subject Categories: Railroads, Archives Center, National Museum of American History, Smithsonian Institution.
- Wikipedia, “Buffalo, Rochester and Pittsburgh Railway” – Good discussion of the R&P in the “Genesis” section.